18. Read and translate the text.

TELEX

Telegrams and cables can be sent at any time and from any post office. This means of communication is available twenty four hours a day, but between sending message and its arrival there can be short delay.

The telex is a machine like a typewriter but the difference is that it has a dial on its casting. You can send messages by dialing the receiver's number or by asking the operator at the exchange to connect you. An answerback code will appear on the teleprinter indicating that the sender is through as soon as the operator has dialed the code. The message is typed and will appear on the receiver's machine.

Besides the advantages of sending a cable, telex is available right in the office, you needn't go to the post office. It offers a direct line with immediate reply

Layout of telexes

Answerback - 154738 RG VSL

CONSIGNMENT LD 1846 ONLY

ACCEPTABLE 12 O/O OFFERED -

Message - NOT THE 37 O/O OFFERED

Sender's name - PLEASE CONFIRM DAN ROLLINS

Telecommunicators have developed their own language. It is very similar to English but it has its own vocabulary and its own grammar. A sentence like "The meeting has been arranged for the 9th October" becomes "MEETING ARRANGED 9TH OCTOBER".

Telex charges depend on the time it takes to send the message (like telephoning, but cheaper), so telex operators have developed their own abbreviations.

Internet

The best way to think of the Internet, or Net as it is often called, is a vast global network or networks connecting computers across the world. At present, more than 33 million people use Internet and over 3 million computers worldwide are linked in. They use the Net for transferring data, playing games, socializing with other computer users, and sending e-mail.

The Net was dreamt up in the late 1960s by the US Defense Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency which decided that it needed a means by which messages could be sent and received even if phone lines were inoperative. In 1969, there was a network of just four computers. By 1972 the number had risen to 40. About this time the idea of electronic mailbox was born. By 1984 the Internet began to develop into the form we know it today.

The Internet can be divided into five broad areas.

Electronic mail, which is much faster than traditional mail. Anything that can be digitized (converted into digital form) - pictures, sound, video - can be sent, retrieved, and printed at the other end.

I nformation sites. This is perhaps the fastest growing area of the Internet as more and more people put their own information pages on line. Computers process vast amounts of information very fast, by specsfying a key word or phrase. The computer can then search around the Net until it finds some matches. These information sites are usually stored on big computers that exist all over the world. The beauty of the Net is that you can access all of them from your home, using your own PC.

The World Wide Web, usually referred to as WWW or 3W, is a vast network of information databases that feature text, sound, and even video clips. On the WWW you can go on a tour of a museum or exhibition, see the latest images from outer space, go shopping, and get travel information on hotels and holidays.

Usenet is a collection of newsgroups covering any topic. Each newsgroup consists of messages and information posted by other users. There are more than 10,000 newsgroups and they are popular with universitiesand business.

Telnet programs allow you to use your personal computer to access a powerful mainframe computer.